Patent EP-0997169-A2 (EP)
Inventor: EDGERLEY DAVID ANTHONY
IPC: A63C17/02
Filed: 1999-07-06
Abstract: A training roller skate comprising rollers or wheels and mounting means therefor, the
mounting means for at least one wheel being movable, preferably in a direction
transverse to the wheel axis, to permit contact between a wheel associated surface and
motion inhibiting means that is to inhibit rotary motion of the wheel. The skate has
a front shoe part defining a forward platform portion to support a skater's foot and
further defining toe cap support means with which a separately formed toe cap is
snap-fittedly attached thereby to permit toe caps of alternative shapes and forms (e.g.
representing cartoon characters) to be selectively attached to the toe cap support
means. The forward platform portion may have attached thereto a brake pad of
frictional material that is engageable by a said roller, said brake pad being provided
integrally with a projection frictionally to engage the ground when the platform is
tilted. At least one of the wheels or rollers has a surface associated therewith provided
with at least one projection or recess, and a main body of the skate is provided with
at least one recess or projection dimensioned for mating engagement with the (or at
least one of the) said surface projection or recess, the mounting means being movable
selectively to effect such mating engagement - to inhibit both forwards skating and
rearwards skating - and out of such mating engagement - to permit skating in at
least the forwards direction. The roller skate may further comprise a forward carriage
and a rearward carriage, length adjustment means interconnecting them, and locking
means to lock the interconnected first and second carriages in a selected one of a
plurality of predetermined relative positions, the locking means comprising, to each
side (of the skate's longitudinal central axis):
   an elongate channel having one side wall thereof formed with a plurality of
slot-like openings depending from one of said carriages; and   a lock member mounted for pivoting motion on the other of said carriages,
said lock member having a first finger to extend through an opening in a wall of said
other carriage and abut against the opposite wall of said recess, and having a second
finger to extend through the same or another opening in said carriage wall and to
engage into a selected one of the slot-like openings.    
     Fastening arrangements are also disclosed comprising a strap having (preferably
between edges of the strap) a plurality of recesses in a major surface of the strap; and
a buckle having a body member in the form of an arched structure through which the
strap is to extend and further having a pawl member disposed between said major
surface of the strap - when the latter is in the buckle - and a facing wall of the
body member, said pawl member having a tip end for entry into any selected one of
said recesses. One of said members is provided with a laterally-extending element
(e.g. a rib or a wall), and the other of said members is provided with a laterally-extending
channel to accommodate the element and define therewith a pivot axis for
the pawl member. Additionally or alternatively, one of said members is molded of
plastics material integrally with at least one inherently resilient limb that is engageable
either of the strap or, as is preferred, of the other of said members to provide a
restoring force countering disengagement of the pawl member from its said state of
recess engagement.